


Catch a Falling Star

by TheSilverPhoenix



Series: The Stars Above [2]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Cardverse, Friendship, Gen, Kid Fic, Magic, Nyotalia, Prequel, Skipping Class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26471923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSilverPhoenix/pseuds/TheSilverPhoenix
Summary: The young Prince of Spades has escaped from her tutors once again. Now all she needs is someone to help cover it up.
Series: The Stars Above [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1899790
Kudos: 8





	Catch a Falling Star

Amelia Jones darted through the corridors like a girl on a mission and, technically, she was. She rushed past all the servants and maids that roamed the halls, going about their days and diligently finishing their work, and ignored the awkward feeling that stirred in her gut as they stooped to bows as she passed. She hoped that none of them ratted her out.

The young Prince of Spades continued on her path. She weaved through the halls of the Spadian palace, not making eye contact with any of the lords giving her odd glances or the ladies that gave her judgmental glares. They’d been suffocating when she’d first come to live in the palace - a scrappy, raggedy street orphan was a harsh comparison to a palace groomed Jack and a high-society elite - but she’d learned to ignore the critical eyes of courtiers after years of practice. Amelia knew that she’d never compare to either of her counterparts - especially not Alice, who had stepped into her role as future Queen seamlessly while Amelia was still learning the intricacies of palace politics after four years. There was really only so much a twelve-year-old could learn.

She shook herself out of her thoughts. That path of thinking always led down a dark road that made her feel as though her wheels were spinning in the mud. Alice and Chun-Yan had both been born into high-society, so it had only been natural that they had taken to their roles easily. At least Amelia had Madeline. Her sister hadn’t been held to the same standard as she had, but it was nice to have a familiar face around.

Amelia ducked around a corner just as she heard a faint voice calling her name from down the hall, followed by the sharp clicking of heels. She picked up the pace, hoping to lose her pursuer before they managed to catch up. She couldn’t get caught. She couldn’t go back.

“Your Highness!” she heard again, this time closer and sterner than it had been. The man didn’t dare let his anger show in his voice, but she could hear the underlying exasperation. Luckily, the man chasing her was much slower than she was. It seemed sword lessons were paying off.

Finally, Amelia came to a familiar hallway and slipped into one of the rooms before the man following her could catch up. Now she had another hurdle to face.

As she carefully shut the door to the room, emerald green eyes snapped up to look at her.

“Amelia? What are you doing?” Alice asked, brows furrowing at the other girl’s sudden appearance. Amelia pressed an ear against the door and heard the dreadfully familiar clicking of the man’s footsteps. She didn’t have long.

She turned to Alice, who was curled up on a sofa in front of a large window with a book in her hand and an intricate display of brilliant green light surrounding her. Amelia had entered Alice’s personal suite. Some might’ve considered it scandalous or ill-mannered, but it was an emergency. It really was.

“No time to explain,” Amelia told her, giving the other girl the best puppy-dog eyes she could. “Just don’t tell him I’m here, please.”

In an instant, Alice seemed to know exactly what Amelia was up too and gave the younger girl an eye roll. “You really can’t keep doing this.” She gave a huff, snapped her book closed, and rose from her place in the window, the light behind her faded into nothingness as she did so. These parts of the negotiations were always delicate. She had to choose her words carefully or it could lead to disaster. “Honestly, you’re running the poor man ragged -”

Alice was cut off by a sharp knock on the door. Amelia folded her hands together and mouthed a silent plea, fearing that Alice was going to rat her out to the man on the other side of the door. The other girl just raised an eyebrow at her antics and stared, rather unimpressed. But the longer the two girls sat there, the more Alice’s stern exterior melted away into a soft, fond-looking smile. She gave a small nod to the doorway of the next room and Amelia gave a silent cheer as she hid.

Several seconds later, she heard Alice opened the door.

“Ah, Mr. Poldark,” Amelia could hear Alice say. She was trying to act surprised, but she doubted Alice was.

“Your Highness,” the man greeted her, sounding rather out of breath. Amelia could imagine the man’s small bow as Alice opened the door and his red, sweaty face he’d gotten by chasing the Prince halfway around the palace. It was all very improper and she would likely get a scolding from both him and Alice later on. Though she’d much rather prefer one just from Alice. “I am sorry to disturb you, but it seems…”

“Prince Amelia has gotten away from you?” she finished. Amelia didn’t know whether Alice meant for it to come across as exasperated as it did, but it certainly had either way. “Again?”

“She’s a slippery one, Your Highness.”

“She certainly is,” Alice agreed. Now she sounded annoyed - that was definitely directed more at her than to the man at the door. “It is your duty, however, to occupy her time. I can only hope that Her Highness spends as much time learning underneath your guidance than she does playing hide-and-seek.”

“Of course, Your Highness, of course,” the tutor hurriedly said. Amelia knew that was a blatant lie, but she wasn’t about to blow her cover to say so. “You haven’t perhaps happened to have seen her, have you?”

There was a tense pause where, for a brief moment, Amelia thought that Alice was going to rat her out and send her back to her lessons. She really, really didn’t want to go back. The subjects were boring and the man smelled strongly of rotting cheese.

“No, I have not.”

Relief flooded through her. Alice was covering for her and that meant that she was practically in the clear.

“Ah, I see,” the tutor said, suspicion creeping into his voice. Amelia couldn’t say she blamed him. She always went to Alice when she wanted to shirk lessons, but he certainly wasn’t going to push Alice aside to search her personal rooms. “I just thought that, since she’d come down this way, that you would know.”

“Are you suggesting that I am lying to you?” Alice asked the man, voice deadly calm. If there was one thing about Alice that she knew for certain, it was that she didn’t like to be contradicted. It was a recipe for disaster, or a little fun if you knew how to do it just right.

“Of course not, Your Highness!” he sputtered back. Amelia could practically see the frantic bow he’d bent down into. “Many apologies.”

“Go find your student, Mr. Poldark,” she snapped, brushing the apology aside, “instead of interrogating me.”

As soon as she heard the door slam shut, Amelia let out a snort.

“Damn,” she said, creeping out from her hiding place. “I wanted you to cover for me, not make the poor guy wet himself.”

Speaking, it turned out, had been a mistake.

Alice turned on her and glared.

“As for you,” she began, pointing an accusatory book at her. “Why is it that you can never go a week without skipping a lesson? Is it really that hard to just sit there and listen?”

Amelia gave her a pout - maybe she could weasel her way out of this. “Lessons are booooooring. I’d much rather spend my time with you.”

The compliment made Alice click her tongue, but Amelia could see the way her tense, up-tight posture relaxed just a bit. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

“This cannot go on much longer, Amelia,” she said eventually, green eyes leveling at her seriously. Amelia paid more attention to how the light reflecting into them made the dark, emerald green glitter than she did to the scolding words of her future Queen. “Your lessons are important.”

Amelia snapped out of her musing and scrunched her nose. “Why? Mattie doesn’t have to do them, neither do you.”

“You know very well why,” she said, walking over to Amelia and placing her book down on a nearby table. “Besides, Madeline isn’t being trained to run a country.”

“No, she’s just training to fight off a bunch of people in cool ways.”

“An Ace’s training is hard work.”

“Yeah, I know, I have to do that training too.”

Amelia didn’t realize that she’d been pouting up until that point and she scolded herself instantly - pouting wasn’t very kingly of her. Showing any emotion at all wasn’t very kingly according to her tutors. She couldn’t ever seem to do anything right.

She waited for Alice to reprimand her because it was surely something that Alice would point out, but it never came.

Instead, Amelia was met with a soft, sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she mumbled back. “It’s just...everyone here is so...ugh.”

“I know.” Alice gave a small, tired sigh. “Believe me, I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello everyone! This is another prequel fic for a much longer cardverse fic that I've been planning. I'm going to be honest, this series is only going to grow. I'm now too obsessed with the main fic to just leave it, so hopefully I'll be able to stop adding more prequel fics to my plan and actually make myself write the longer fic. On that note, all of the fics after this one will be USUK for this series. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](https://silverphoenixwrites.tumblr.com/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sil_phoenix), and [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/silverphoenix)!


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